Replacing Nate Harper 'wouldn't be fair' to next mayor

How to deal with fallout from the ongoing Pittsburgh police scandal? With the clock running down on his days as mayor, Luke Ravenstahl is picking his battles. That may mean more changes in the city's bureau, but not at the very top.?Federal probes of Pittsburgh's Bureau of Police include a review of city money allegedly diverted from payments by private employers for their hiring off-duty police.

The big money some officers earn from so-called "secondary details" is also controversial. Ravenstahl has indicated that he is preparing to shake up control and accounting for that system.

The Fraternal Order of Police union has suggested moving control of those details from under the police bureau to another agency, perhaps the City Controller's Office.

"(Public Safety Director Mike Huss is) taking a look at what other cities do and really trying to get this issue behind the police force as quickly as possible. And if that means moving it out of the bureau, then that means moving it out of the bureau," said Ravenstahl. "If we can make some changes over the course of then next 10 months, we will, and begin to take a look at that process, so that is something we will be working on over the course of the remainder of my term."?The police scandal led Ravenstahl to force Police Chief Nate Harper's resignation, but he's giving up on naming Harper's permanent replacement before leaving office.

"It would be extremely rushed, if we were to do it. I'm very much aware of the interest in public to have input. I share that interest," he said.

"For us to try to achieve that by the end of the year, while we may be able to do it, it wouldn't be fair, in my mind, to the next mayor, to not have him or her have a chance to choose their chief," said Ravenstahl.

Ravenstahl also faced reporter questions on Monday about what he knew about the federal investigation of police money allegedly shifted to an unauthorized police credit union account.

One published report suggested that Huss was informed by a police employee of the unauthorized account on Feb. 9. Another report said Deputy Police Chief Paul Donaldson moved to shut down the account in January after a memo from a concerned officer.

When asked by Channel 4 Action News' Bob Mayo if he could clarify the timeline of who knew what and when, Ravenstahl replied, "I don't know the answer to that. I know I learned about that well after both of those incidents. The director can answer that better than I. I was unaware of it until, really, you guys started to ask questions and talk about it in more detail."?As for what Huss told the mayor, another reporter asked, "Did he come to you and tell you what he learned?"

"No, not to my knowledge or recollection. No, not at that point," said Ravenstahl.

Later in the same session with reporters, the mayor suggested that he learned of the federal probe from reporters, saying, "I don't remember when he brought it to me. I don't know if it was that day or later on. To the best of my knowledge, it was really something that I learned though you guys."

But when pressed, the mayor changed his account, saying he'd learned of the federal investigation before the FBI raid, no longer saying he learned of the investigation from reporters.

"So, probably, either that day or perhaps the day before, but that was it," Ravenstahl said.

"From who?" asked Mayo.

"From the director at that point, yeah," answered Ravenstahl.

The mayor told reporters he believes the important thing is that once his administration learned of the federal investigation, it "has been an open book and as cooperative as can be" with the FBI.